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September 22, 2025 – Tunisia –
Tunisian journalist, lawyer, and commentator Sonia Dahmani has been chosen as a recipient of the 2025 International Press Freedom Award, as announced by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The award is to be conferred at a ceremony in New York later this year, though Dahmani is expected to remain absent from the event.
Dahmani’s trajectory has made her both a prominent voice and a target in Tunisia’s increasingly constrained media environment. Before her 2024 arrest, she made frequent appearances on radio and television, speaking forthrightly on political issues, judicial independence, civil rights, prison conditions, migration, and systemic racism. Her criticisms of social realities—such as questioning why many young people would choose to stay in a country that offers few opportunities—heightened her visibility.
Following her arrest in May 2024, Dahmani was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on multiple charges linked to her public expressions. She faces further prosecutions under Tunisia’s Decree-Law 54, including a hearing set for September 30, in cases that could carry sentences of up to 20 years. Inside detention, rights groups report she endures harsh conditions: limited medical care, degraded treatment, and constrained contact with family and legal counsel.
CPJ and other international organizations see Dahmani’s plight as emblematic of a broader pattern of shrinking dissent in Tunisia—a country once praised for its relatively open press. To the CPJ, she now “symbolizes the shrinking space for dissent” in a country that once stood as a regional model of media freedom.
At the November 20 event in New York, Dahmani will be honored alongside other journalists globally, including figures from China, Ecuador, and Kyrgyzstan.
By spotlighting her case, the award draws attention both to Dahmani’s personal courage and to the escalating pressure on free expression in Tunisia.
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